Artificial Souls
by Tafkae
Summary: Complete... or rather, forever incomplete. When the local arcade gets its hands on some virtuapods, it sounds like it'll be a lot of fun, but Yugi and Jounouchi quickly learn the dangers of video gaming as a sinister force begins to manipulate their world
1. Prologue

Artificial Souls  
by TAFKAE

Prologue

~~~

Saturdays could suck.

Jou hadn't been having an especially good day so far. He'd slept too late to catch his cartoons, after staying up way too late the night before to lose at game after game after game of Starcraft. So what if he sucked at Starcraft, though? He still OWNED Duel Monsters… and even though he was awful at Dance Dance Revolution, it was still therapeutic.

However, that particular plan was quickly shot to pieces when he noticed the ad in the arcade window. KaibaCorp's latest and greatest. The cutting edge of gaming. Duel Monsters and role-playing seamlessly meshed.

The arcade had procured a couple of virtuapods.

It took him a moment to realize he was starting to drool. Hell, maybe with the ultra-high stakes removed, this game might actually be _enjoyable!_ Not thinking, he dashed inside the arcade, and there they were, not even a few days old, sitting in a corner and casting their divine light upon all the others, the old, dirty, fingerprinty, bubble-gum-stuck-to-the-playing-surface-y others! "Oh my dear sweet God in heaven," he whispered, grinning like an idiot.

"They just arrived on Thursday," said Aaron, one of the guys who worked at the arcade but also practically _lived_ there after he got off. "But not that many people want to try it. Apparently, it's pretty easy to lose, and it's a little pricey..."

"_How_ pricey?" asked Jou dejectedly.

"Five hundred yen a pop," Aaron replied in an identical tone.

Jou reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of junk. Gum wrappers, booster pack wrappers, and candy wrappers, for the most part; which explained the distinct lack of what he was looking for. Finally, he managed to procure a 500-yen bill, and gave a cry of triumph. "Well, I got enough," he sighed, "but then there goes my lunch ticket. Hm..."

"Well, if you're good enough at Duel Monsters, I'd think it's worth it," said the guy, gesturing at one of the pods. "That guy must be _amazing_; he's been in there since around ten-thirty, and what is it now, one?"

Jou glanced up at the pod in question and was surprised at its occupant, though he probably shouldn't have been. "Yugi?!" he asked in disbelief. "Oh, great. I just can't think of anything first, can I?"

"You know him?"

"Know him? He's my best friend," Jou snapped. "Okay, screw lunch. If Yugi's playing, I'm playing, too!"

"The machine takes bills," Aaron informed him with the air of "I seriously wish it was me who was playing" about his tone. Jou dutifully stuck his money into the slot so indicated, and when the pod's lid opened, he eagerly hopped in. "Don't bother kicking us out at closing time!"

"I won't need to," said Aaron nonchalantly, and then the lid closed...

~~~

Jou was somewhat surprised to find he'd spawned in a city, but after some quick registration (it turns out Kaiba had converted this version of the game to be online multiplayer) he was on his way again, looking for Yugi. "I guess he could be anywhere by now," he figured to himself, "but I've got a hunch he's still in the city..."

However, after ten minutes of searching and a thorough scour of the city, which included being chased and caught by a pack of virtual stray dogs, a hunch turned into a worry. Somehow he knew Yugi was still around, but he couldn't find him anywhere. So what could have happened?

"It's probably my imagination," he laughed, shrugging it off as he walked down the nearly deserted street. "Oh well, I guess I'd better find a quest or I just wasted 500 yen!"

Just then, something caught his eye. A little child, previously pushing a broom on the stairs, had just doubled over and was now clinging unsteadily to the broomstick. Jou ran over to him and knelt down. The child's robe kept him nondescript, and the hood kept him unrecognizable or even invisible. Jou laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, are you okay, kid?" The child then dropped the broom and clutched his head, shutting his eyes tightly. "Make it stop!" he shouted.

Jou jumped. He knew the voice well. It was Yugi's.

"The voices," the kid whispered, rocking a little back and forth. "Why won't they stop...?"

"Snap out of it!" exclaimed Jou, shaking him by the shoulder. "Talk to me, man!"

And just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over; the kid blinked, and tremulously got to his feet, picking up the broom as he went, and he looked up at Jou with huge, fearful eyes. "I'm sorry," he murmured, as he put one hand behind his neck. "I guess that was pretty embarrassing, huh?"

"Hold that thought," said Jou, and grabbed onto the boy's hood. This did not go without protest; the boy shrank back and took him by the wrist with both hands, trying to make him let go. His only response was to reach up and unhood the boy with his other hand, which didn't take long, and produced the expected result, more or less. Under the hood was none other than Yugi.

"What's the big idea!?" Yugi shouted indignantly, finally pulling back and whipping the hood back over his head.

"What's the big deal? It's just me!" Jou replied, a bit confused.

Yugi had dropped the broom again, and now he bent down to pick it up. "Does that mean I should know you from someplace?" he asked quietly.

"Yugi, quit playing around! I know you know me!" Jou wailed, in disbelief that his friend either didn't recognize him or was playing around with him. Neither option fit with Yugi's personality well enough to make any sense.

Yugi shrank back from him a little. "Yugi? What are you talking about? That's not my name! I -"

Jou didn't catch whatever was said next. Of course, this was, after all, a video game, and as he remembered, there was a certain Princess of Simlau who was modeled after Mokuba. Still, he also knew Kaiba hated Yugi with a passion, so he had no idea _why_ he'd model an NPC after him. He closed his eyes, sighed, and shrugged it off. "Sorry, man. I was looking for a friend of mine, and you look exactly like him."

"Oh," said the Yugi look-alike. "Well, I'm called Satoshi. What's your name?"

"Jounouchi," he replied. "Have you seen my friend?"

"I don't know," said Satoshi. "I've had enough to worry about. I've been told of a gang of thieves hanging around who only beat on travelers. Apparently they've got the most valuables. The travelers, I mean." He started back up on sweeping the shop steps. "Someone told me I look like a _gaijin._ That's why I keep my face hidden. Please don't take it personally."

"Well..." Jou thought for a second "... that sounds like a quest to me, and the Registration Fairy said this game is all about quests. So, I gotta go find these bandits, beat 'em up, and take their stuff! ... But it just won't be the same without Yugi telling me how crazy it is..."

"You've gotta be nuts!" exclaimed Satoshi, dropping the broom _again._ "I'm no duelist, but from what I've heard, these guys are tough! You don't just walk in on a thieves' guild, Jounouchi."

Jou sighed. "I guess you're right. I've gotta find a quest that I can do on my own, then..."

"No, you don't."

He glanced down at the NPC, surprised. "What?"

"I'll come along with you," said Satoshi. "Besides, I feel like I've got something to finish." He smiled sweetly. "Come on, I'm sure I can help somehow."

"Oh, great, an NPC that _follows_ you..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

~~~

Satoshi had directed Jou to a street food vendor, and surprisingly enough, what he was selling actually looked appetizing. From what Jou could tell, it was just chicken. So he bought as much of it as he could afford.

"So, eh, about these bandits," he said in a spare moment between bites, which was so short it ended up overlapping them, "what do you know about them?"

Satoshi shook his head. "Not much, really. Only that they have a total obsession with gold. If you've got any, they'll go and take it." He paused for a moment to watch Jou eat. "Jeez, you could lose a _hand_ in there..."

Then he stiffened, and his eyes widened. Jou ceased his rapid eating as he noticed the difference in his non-player companion. "You okay?" he asked. He couldn't help but worry; the guy _was,_ after all, modeled after Yugi, and it honestly scared him to see Yugi like this, shaking and quivering.

"It's happening again," the smaller boy whispered, burying his head in his arms. "I wish it would just..."

"_What's_ happening?" Jou prodded.

Satoshi looked halfway up. "I'm going crazy. I _must_ be going crazy." And then he pulled his head back into his arms again. Jou grabbed him by the hood and tried to drag him back out. Of course, this succeeded only in drawing the hood off and displaying Satoshi's dark, almost blood-red hair for everyone to see. Including an unnoticed bunch of rather shady character in the shadows a few feet away. Satoshi himself either didn't notice or didn't care about the fact that his hood was off, but remained hunched over the table, trembling considerably. "Who _are_ you?" he half-whispered, half-mumbled. "What do you want with me?!"

"Your money, of course," said a gruff voice from beside the table. Satoshi and Jou looked up to find two big grunts and one small woman standing over the table, dressed all in black.

"You're our biggest catch of the day," the second grunt added.

"Not just one, but two_ gaijin!_ We couldn't pass it up," sighed the woman.

Jou jumped to his feet, knocking his chair flat on its back. "Bandits," he said coldly.

"That's right," said the woman, appearing to just now see the dueling deck on his left arm. She decided it would be a bad idea to attack a duelist like that _first,_ and instead, in what she couldn't possibly have known was a worse idea, pointed at Satoshi. "The little one. Don't leave anything of value on him."

In the first second that followed, Jou glanced around the street only to find that it was deserted now even more than ever. Satoshi hadn't been kidding about these guys' reputation. Well, he'd just have to shred it, then. The second and third seconds were devoted to him drawing a card and summoning the Flame Swordsman with it. The three thieves backed sharply away, and Satoshi scrambled to put Jou roughly in a line between him and the monster.

"If you want him, you're gonna have to go through me first!" Jou declared.

The grunts put up their fists, but the woman lowered them with one hand and smiled knowingly and dangerously into their eyes. Then she turned around to face the duelist. "Look, we're all civilized here, and no one wants this to turn into an all-out fight." She was approaching him a little now. "Why don't we just talk this out? Come on, let me get you something..."

Suddenly he heard an "MMPH!" from behind him and whipped around. One of the grunts had snuck around behind him and grabbed Satoshi, clamping a hand over his mouth. Jou wasn't sure what to do; if he had the Swordsman attack, he would run the risk of hurting his friend, but at this point, it looked like Satoshi was going to get hurt anyway. From what Jou could tell, the kid knew that, too, and was scared to death. He growled something only his Swordsman would have understood, hesitating for a moment -

Satoshi struggled in vain for a few seconds as the guy reached into his empty pockets with the hand he now had free, as he wasn't bothering to cover the boy's mouth, which, as soon as it was free to do so, let out a somewhat frightening statement. "Please let go - I don't want to end up hurting you!"

"Like you _could,"_ said the thug that wasn't holding him.

"Leave him alone!!" Jou shouted.

"What're you gonna do about it?" said the woman. "I'll bet he could kill your little friend with a flick of his finger."

"I found something," said the first thug, reaching into Satoshi's collar and drawing forth the object in question. The other thug, the girl, and Jou all gasped when they saw it.

It was the Millennium Puzzle.

The woman immediately figured it was solid gold and was about to comment on its market worth when a look of complete horror crossed Satoshi's face, and he exclaimed, "I can't stop it!!"

"What?" the woman asked, bewildered.

And suddenly they were all looking at an entirely different Satoshi, one with cold, dark eyes and a malicious flair about his person, and it was in that instant that Jou realized there was no way he could be a simple NPC. This was reinforced when he brought his foot up and somehow managed to give his captor a good kick to the groin. The man's grip loosened, and the boy who could no longer be anyone but Yugi rolled away, taking his stand next to Jou.

"You've made me very angry," he said softly.

The woman blinked as her comrade moved to stand (or as best he could) behind her. "What the hell is this?" she demanded.

"Yugi! So it _is_ you!" shouted Jou.

Yugi ignored him for the moment. "I normally don't approve of death, but for bandits, and _NPC_ bandits especially, like yourselves, I'm willing to make an exception."

"NPC?! What's that supposed to -"

"Feel free to hit them anytime, Jou," he remarked casually.

Jou smirked. "With pleasure." He didn't even need to order the Flame Swordsman to attack. All three bandits quickly became digital potato hash. This task accomplished, he turned to face Yugi again. "It's good to see you acting a little closer to normal, Yugi," he said.

Yugi faced him full-front, something he rarely did, and a tone of great urgency invaded his voice. "Look, I'm not sure how much longer I can hold this, so I'll make it quick," he almost whispered. "You need to find a certain pixy - called the Faerie of Lost Dreams." He took his taller companion by the sleeve and glared into his eyes. "Take 'Satoshi' along whether he likes it or not. Understand?"

Jou nodded. "I read you," he said quietly.

And then Yugi's eyes softened, and he was Satoshi once again, and the look of fear and horror returned to his face, and he shrank back away from Jou. "Wha - what happened?" he exclaimed, noticing the distinct absence of the three bandits who had been about to pound the daylights out of him. "I don't remember ... I couldn't control myself!!" He tried pulling himself in closer upon himself, as if doing so would somehow protect him. "It's all like a bad dream I can't wake up from..."

He jumped slightly when he felt Jou's hand resting on his shoulder, and looked up. "Don't sweat it," Jou said cheerfully. "You're still a friend, all right?"

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Satoshi whispered.

"Well, I'm sure he'll respect that from now on," said Jou, and while Satoshi was puzzling over that, Jou hauled him to his feet. "Come on, we got a new quest, and this one's a hell of a lot more important than some bandits." Then he started walking off, his friend in tow behind him.

~~~

The search really lasted only a few minutes, but it seemed like hours. Finally, they ran into a young man with longish silver hair and glasses. "Oh, yes, I remember you," he said to Satoshi. "Yugi Mutou, age fourteen. Yes, we ran into each other earlier this morning, if I remember correctly."

"We're looking for the Faerie of Lost Dreams," Jou snapped, taking notice of his companion's obvious unease.

"Is _that_ what they're calling me now? Sheesh," said the man. "Well, now you're looking _at_ him, not _for_ him." He turned around back toward the jamb of the door whence he had come. "Please, come inside." The boys both moved to cross the threshold, but Jou found himself stopped by one of the man's long, thin hands on his chest. "Not you, him," he said forcefully. Jou grumbled, but stayed outside as the man led Satoshi into the building. Instead, he snuck around to a window and watched the events transpiring within from there.

Of course, he actually saw very little. There wasn't much of anything to speak of inside the room, and a room was all this particular little edifice was. What he _did_ see was Satoshi collapsing for no apparent reason, and the man hoisting him over his shoulder and pulling him to the door, to which Jou bolted. "What the heck did you _do_ to him?!" he demanded.

"He'll be fine, given a few minutes," said the man, transferring the limp weight of Yugi's small body over to Jou, who gladly took it.

"I didn't ask you if he'll be fine, I asked you what you did!"

He shook his head. "Sorry, that would be giving you too much information. Carry on." With that, he glowed purple for a second, and disappeared.

True to form, Yugi came to a few minutes later to find himself staring straight at Jou. "Jou?" he asked, suddenly wide awake, and pulled away from him. "What's going on? How did you get here? How did _I_ get here?"

"Whoa, Satoshi, chill out, all right?" Jou replied quickly.

"Satoshi? Jou, did you get hit in the head or something?" Yugi asked, now genuinely worried. "It's me, Yugi."

It took a moment for this information to sink through Jou's thick skull, then he spoke. "OH! So that weird guy gave your memories back, or something. Well, that's great!"

Yugi blinked. "My... memories?" He shrugged halfheartedly. "I didn't know they were missing."

"What?"

"The last thing I remember was that I was on a quest to get my dueling deck back, and then somebody grabbed me and I blacked out," he explained. "And then the next thing I knew, it was now. Did anything bad happen?"

"Well, you kept getting all distraught all over the place, and that was kind of embarrassing, and we almost got mugged," Jou replied casually, "but other than that, no, not really."

There was another pause in which Yugi gave the appearance of being deep in thought and was probably talking with Yami, and then Jou spoke again. "So, eh, what was that about losing your dueling deck?"

~~~

Both boys had a lot to think about when they arrived home. Yugi was worried about the account Yami had given him of his incapacitation. _If they can freely muck around with my memories while I'm in the game, it kind of makes you wonder what else they can do._ He shuddered. _I don't even want to _think_ about it!_

Yami had, by now, made the rather vehement decision _not_ to play this game again.

Jou, not really knowing what had happened, was worried about missing Inuyasha the next day.

And elsewhere, a young man with silver hair and glasses made plans.

*OWARI DESU KA?*

I always place my Author's Notes at the end. Tell me what you think, but I'm putting Chapter One up soon anyway. Ja mata ne!

(o^.^o) The Artist Formerly Known As Ed


	2. PART ONE: Chapter One: Deep Blue

Artificial Souls  
by TAFKAE

Part One

Chapter One: Deep Blue

~~~

Saturdays could be okay.

Jou kept sleeping through his cartoons every week, and he never ceased complaining about it. Yugi also managed to sleep through his shows, but he taped the good ones. Right now he was sitting in the living room, having just gotten dressed, and was watching his cartoons over a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. Cocoa Puffs always seemed a bit better with Dragonball playing in the background.

The doorbell rang then, and Yugi, in the middle of the initial "crunch," didn't hear it.

The doorbell rang again, and Yugi tried to ignore it; the store _was_ closed today, after all.

Then the doorbell launched into a tremendous flurry of rings. Yugi groaned, got up, paused his tape, and walked to the front door, wondering all the way why someone would come to the door when the sign said "CLOSED," and then ring the doorbell this insistently and _drag him away from his Cocoa Puffs._ Oh, the blasphemy! the treason! the injustice! the –

Well, that explained it. Jou wasn't exactly known for his good manners.

Yugi opened the door and was greeted with a rush of cold air. October. Great. Of course, he was also greeted with a warm "Hello!" from Jou, who sort of let himself in. "Geez, how many times did I have to ring that thing?" he asked rhetorically.

"I guess it's good to know it still works," Yugi joked. "What's up? Forgot to tape Dragonball again?"

Jou frowned. "Well, yeah, but that's not why I came over." He grinned and pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "I found something _really_ cool in that virtuapod game, and I thought you'd want to see it!"

His friend twitched noticeably. It wasn't so much that he was getting upset over the last time he'd played that game, as that Yami was still worried and perhaps even (though there was no way he'd admit it) a little afraid. But he and Yugi were so close that that sort of thing tended to rub off from one to the other. After a moment of hesitation, the latter sighed. "I dunno, Jou. Every time I play that game, something bad happens."

"This time it won't," Jou assured him. "It's just a special dueling arena. I played one guy there, and totally wiped out his life points, and he just walked away from it like it never happened!"

"I'm still not so sure playing is a good idea."

"Aw, don't be such a bad sport." Jou grinned and elbowed his friend a little. "Y'know what? I bet you're just scared I'm gonna beat you."

"No, it's not that," said Yugi. "Just – let's watch today's Dragonball and let me think about it, all right?"

"As long as it ain't Tao Pai Pai…"

~~~

The boy was lost. He didn't know where he was, or what he was, or _why_ he was. But oh, he _was,_ and he knew it. For the moment, he would have been lying down had there been any ground in this place, holding himself together will every fibre of will he possessed, wishing so desperately… so absolutely…

And then there was a ground, and he looked about to find nothing now existed in this place _but_ that ground. For a moment he wondered if it was _he_ who had created it, but that theory was quickly put down by the unexpected but not entirely surprising presence of another behind him.

"Astounding," the voice breathed, a soft but foreboding one. The boy made no effort to move, nor to acknowledge the person there. But that person continued.

"Astounding," he repeated himself. "It's amazing that you're still around, after everything I've tried to do with you. Torn you from your avatar, but you remained; deposited your data in here, but you endured; even tried to delete you, but every time, my OS mysteriously locked up!; and now this!"

The boy shuddered as the other man prodded him with his toe. "You've created an avatar of your own! In the spitting likeness of your counterpart!" A pause. "Well, perhaps it's because you were inadvertently made from a player character, but I have never before seen such an incredible will to _exist!_ And especially not in a mere artificial intelligence!" He sighed. "Yes, you are a remarkable creature indeed – only two weeks old, and already given concrete, absolute form. Real people need around fourteen _years_ to progress as far as you have in fourteen _days._"

"_You_ seem to know who I am," whispered the boy. "Tell me."

There was another pause. "Actually, I _don't_ really know who you are," the man said at last. "But I do know that you play a crucial part in my operation, now. I would like very much to see just how adaptable you can be."

The boy hesitated, then slowly sat up, and then just as slowly turned about to see his newly arrived tormentor. His already wide eyes widened further when recognition set in. "You – you're the –"

"I am; what of it?" The man chuckled. "That look on your face – it's priceless." He turned halfway from the boy as if to leave. "I have matters to attend to, but I'll be back. Don't stop existing while I'm out, all right?" He didn't wait for an answer before a purple glow surrounded his slim frame, and then he was gone.

For a moment an expression of mixed fear and bitterness crossed the face of the Yugi Mutou look-alike, and then he slumped over in resignation to a fate unknown.

~~~

"Okay, how about a rematch of a rematch of a rematch?"

"I'd just beat you again," Yugi replied with the confidence of his darker half, but the innocence and appearance of the lighter. "Thinking about it" had actually consisted mostly of trying to convince Yami that there really wasn't any harm in just one duel, and eventually Yami had folded, but then they'd both gotten carried away, and Jou had gotten carried away, and one duel had turned into two and three and was about to become a fourth if something wasn't done about it. "Besides, this is starting to get kind of boring. Wanna go see if we can find a quest?"

Within two minutes of that suggestion being made, both boys were back out on the street, looking for an intermediate quest or two. Jou was talking to an old lady about just such a quest when Yugi stopped short and began staring intently into an alleyway nearby. _What's wrong?_ Yami inquired silently.

_I thought I saw…_ He stopped, unsure of what exactly it was that he thought he'd seen, but certain it was familiar. He shook his head and turned back to Jou. _Never mind. It's probably nothing._

_I hope so,_ said Yami, and then he was quiet again.

And from the shadows of the alleyway, a lone figure watched them for a moment, thinking how lucky he was to have not been seen, and then he glowed purple and vanished, on his way to the implementation of his Phase Two.

He boasted longish silver hair and glasses.

~~~

One hour became two, two hours became three, and three hours drew near into four. A fairy appeared to inform Yugi and Jou of their allotted time in the pods almost being up, and when Jou mouthed off to it, he promptly received a nice bruise on his head and a firm "You brought it on yourself," the former from the fairy and the latter from Yugi.

"Kind of a bummer, though," said Yugi, placing one hand behind his neck. "Maybe we ought to come back next Saturday. This game can be really fun when it's not trying to kill me." The comment was intended as a joke, but emerged laced with seriousness.

Seriousness, however, was lost on Jou; he took the statement at face value. "Heh heh! Yeah, you bet. I'll bet anything there's a million more quests we've never even heard of out there!"

The little fairy suddenly reappeared out of thin air. "Well, Sir and _Madam – "_ that second one was spat out at Jou " – are you ready? Although that's a bit of a stupid question, because I have to kick you out anyway, regardless of whether or not you're _ready."_

"Yeah, I think so," said Yugi.

"_MADAM?!"_ exclaimed Jou.

"An eye for an eye," replied the fairy casually. "Yugi Mutou logoff commencing…"

~~~

So Yugi logged off, but it was not Yugi who awoke in the pod at the arcade. Instead opened the eyes of a scared little boy surrounded by people he didn't recognize, in a place he didn't recognize, without an avatar to hide behind, and full of utter noncomprehension. Nervously he backed out of the arcade and began walking briskly but apprehensively down the lightly crowded street.

A thought struck Yami, and he was quick to voice it. _Is something wrong?_

The boy who was not Yugi stopped in his tracks, parting the small sea of walkers around him like a rock in a river, trembling as he did. They were back. After all that, now that the question of his existence was out of the way, he was hearing voices again…!

_Voices – ? Yugi, are you all right?_

Not Yugi. No, the boy knew few things, but one that he did know was that he was most decidedly _not_ Yugi. He looked like Yugi, he sounded like Yugi, and from what he could understand he might at some point have even _been_ Yugi! but oh, he was not Yugi.

This revelation threw Yami for a loop. It was like he kept saying; something bad always happened when they used those virtuapods. Those damned virtuapods. That damned Jounouchi. But pinning the blame would help nothing now. He decided instead to ask, _Then who _are_ you?_

He couldn't have known that that was the wrong question. The initial response he got was panic, the horror of not knowing the answer, and then a flurry of attempts, a storm of protests. The boy tried to produce something, anything that might set him apart, something that would make him someone, and then he delved into something he knew from the beginning of his life, having an identity for only the span of an hour or two, trying to formulate a satisfactory answer for the demanding voice in his head, all the while crying for answers, who am I, who are you?

What surprised Yami more than the sudden barrage of words was one in particular. He didn't believe it the first time, jumping out at him from the context of the hour-long identity, but after it had thrice snagged his attention, he knew he was right.

_SATOSHI._

With the voice now silent in its shock, Satoshi felt it safe to break into a run, frightened tears falling down his face. It would be days before he was seen again.

~~~

"Tadaima!"

Grandpa looked up from where he'd been working under the counter. "Oh, hello, Yugi. How was your day?"

"It was good. I had lots of fun down at the arcade with Jou," explained Yugi, starting up the stairs toward his room. "I'm gonna go get my homework done, 'k?"

"All right, I'll call you down for dinner," Grandpa replied.

Yugi sat down at his desk and procured his math book, then paused. Finally he spoke as if to the air around him. "Well? Aren't you gonna make some obvious statement about zeroes?"

But the voice of his aibou was silent.

Shrugging, he pulled out a pencil and started to work. "Okay then, have it your way."

He had no way of knowing the voice would _remain_ silent.

~~~

_Where am I?_

It was dark, but as Satoshi woke up, he realized that that was mostly because his face was planted in something. That something was also keeping him from breathing properly, so he pulled his head up and took a deep gasp of the foul-smelling air around him. It was still dark. He tried to remember what had happened, and with some success; he _did_ remember getting tossed in a dumpster. So he reached up with both hands and found the lid – and also that one of his hands hurt terribly to move. He cried out and pulled it back to himself, then reached up again with his other hand and pushed the top open.

He was greeted with very little light this time instead of none. Straining slightly, he moved himself toward the outside and pushed up an opening big enough for him to fit through. Then he pulled himself out, wincing as the dumpster lid scraped against his back, and dropped to the ground, landing softly on his feet. His entire body stiffened as a jolt of pain shot up from his ankle, and it took all his self-control to keep from shouting as he collapsed to his knees. For a moment he stayed in that position, not sure of his legs' ability to support his weight, and then unsteadily pulled himself to his feet, leaning heavily on his right leg, and cradling his right arm with his left.

"Where do I go from here?" he whispered. He had to go _somewhere_ – if he stayed out here much longer, he'd end up getting himself killed. But he really didn't know anyone real, or anyone he could trust here, except one, one by the name of Jounouchi, but the problem was _where?_

_I'll tell you the way._

The way? Satoshi sighed heavily and fell against the dumpster for support. It was that voice again, that presence whom he'd barely been able to resist, whom he wasn't sure he could trust, even though it was nothing more than a fantasy dreamed up by his delusional mind…

_Be that as it may, I still know the way, and you don't. Please trust me this time._

…but then again, what did he have to lose?

So the boy began limping in the direction his delusion told him to, biting his lip every time his left foot came in contact with the ground. It couldn't be much later than four or five in the morning, by his guess; but at this rate, it really wouldn't matter, because he'd either be several hours in getting to Jounouchi's house, or he wouldn't get there at all. Neither was altogether unlikely.

_You can make it. I don't think it's far from here._ If he hadn't known better, Satoshi would have sworn the voice sounded _worried._ So he kept walking as best he could, and ten minutes quickly-but-far-too-slowly became thirty and sixty, before he stopped, in front of a specific house.

"So, it's this one," he said softly. A pause. "Well, if you're sure…" And he made his slow way up the stairs, reached for the doorbell, pressed it…

~~~

One thing Jou hated about school was how early it forced him to get up in the mornings. It was not his only grievance against the system, and only his third foremost one, but it was there. As such, come six-thirty, he was already awake, so to speak. He was, of course, not highly conscious of his surroundings and was currently buttering a piece of toast for the second time – only this time on the opposite side.

He jumped when the doorbell rang; vaguely wondered who the hell would be at the door this early; muttered "I'll get it," though he knew his dad would sleep right through it; and trudged to the door, yawning.

Whatever was at the door fell toward him as he opened it, having apparently been leaning on it, and he barely managed to catch it before it hit the ground. What it was surprised him, though. "Yugi?" he asked in disbelief. "Good God, where've you been?" he demanded.

Yugi moaned a little into Jou's elbow and seemed to make a halfhearted effort to stand. Jou hoisted him up by his arms, where he'd caught him, and pulled him sort of into one. He didn't need to check twice to see that his friend was injured, and a bit more than lightly. His face was decorated with bruises, and displayed just a hint of the pallor of emaciation, suggesting that he hadn't had much to eat at all while he'd been gone. Jou exhaled as he hauled the half-dead weight to his side, and crouched slightly so he could pull its arm over his shoulder. He felt the weight twitch as he did so, as some-or-other agony woke him, and heard its voice mumble in a harsh whisper something about, "Arm… please…"

So he let go the hand and supported his friend more by the apparently less painful side of him. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up," he said quietly, and started into the living room. Once there, he set Yugi down on the couch and turned to leave.

"Hey, where're you going?" Yugi's voice murmured tremulously behind him.

"I'm getting the first aid kit," Jou explained, not stopping. "And by God, you look like you could use it." He disappeared into the hallway and returned not a minute later with a medium-sized, bright orange tackle-box sort of thing. "Kind of sad that I needed this thing every other day before I met you… So, where're you busted?"

Yugi paused a moment before answering. "Uh… left foot, right hand, and a partridge in a pear tree."

"If you didn't look so bad right now I'd be laughing," Jou breathed, getting up on the couch to check his friend. "Let's see if we can't narrow down the hand thing more. Can I see it?" Nervously and with a great deal of pain involved, Yugi extended the hand, supporting his forearm with the other hand, and Jou gently took it. Yugi only flinched a little until he decided to try the wrist, and that produced an only thinly stifled cry of pain. He jumped away from it and sighed once his heart had resumed its normal rhythm. "Well, I guess that _does_ narrow it down… It might need a splint." He shook his head. "What on earth _happened_ to you?"

"Ran into some gang or other," Yugi explained. "They beat the tar out of me and tossed me in a dumpster. I had to go somewhere as soon as I could…" He looked up at Jou with fear in his big amethyst eyes. "…and you're the only player character I know."

Jou didn't understand that one at all. "Okay, you lost me after the gang thing. What do you mean, _player character?"_

"You know, a character controlled by a – "

"I know what a PC is," he snapped. "But I don't know what you're talking about. This is real life, not some video game!"

"Don't remind me." Yugi had his wrist cradled back in his left arm again, and it seemed to be in even more pain than before. "Yeah, it's real. _Too_ real, even. I didn't want anything but real, and now here it is, and – and I hate it!"

Jou's eyes narrowed slightly. "Something's up with you. If I didn't know better…"

"What?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you weren't even Yugi in the first place. You've _never_ been this depressed, not even after you lost to Kaiba." He straightened up a bit. "That time you didn't run off for days at a time and starve yourself half to death. Wanna humor me and tell me who you are?"

The smaller boy furrowed his brow, trying to remain calm even though he wanted nothing more than to scream and run away again; for one thing, he knew he was in no shape to do either. "I – I'm not really sure," he said at last, his voice anxious but restrainedly so. "I know I'm not Yugi, but I think I'm _supposed_ to be him. Honestly, though – I don't have any idea who _I_ am." He sighed. "Kind of hard to believe, isn't it? A few days ago all I wanted was to _be._ And now I am, and – OW!!"

Jou was checking the foot now, and he looked up briefly. "I'm still listening. Bear with me, all right?" Not waiting for an answer, he returned to his self-appointed job. "Looks like a burrito that's been in the microwave too long…"

His charge tensed, but continued. "Okay… On top of everything, I'm going insane," he sighed. "It's all … it's like a bad dream I can't wake up from."

There was a slight pause, and then a spark of recognition lit up Jou's face as if a spotlight had laid its gaze on him. "That's it," he muttered. "It's totally impossible, but you're _Satoshi!"_

"I guess that's more or less right," Satoshi admitted. "Maybe. It's what the _game_ called me." He sighed. "Unless I'm a part of the game, I've really got no way of knowing if I even _have_ a name. But I guess you could call me Satoshi. A name's just a word…"

Jou repeated his friend's sigh. "This is getting to be way too much for my little brain to handle. And this time there's no Faerie of Lost Dreams to help me get the Yugi _I_ know back – "

"NO!" Satoshi exclaimed, the vehemence of the outburst sending a sword up his arm. "That Faerie thing – somehow he's responsible for this. And besides, I don't think it's really a question of remnants."

"What do you mean?"

He bowed his head slightly. "I don't think I'm what's _left_ of Yugi, so much as …" he paused for a moment, searching for the right phrasing "… a copy. And he's still around someplace, I just know it."

"Whoa. So how would we get him back?"

"If I suddenly find that out, or how I got here in the first place, you'll be the first to know, I promise."

Another pause made its presence known, and then Jou pulled Satoshi's shoe off his swollen foot and started bandaging it. Satoshi bit his lip to keep from screaming, not hard enough to draw blood, but he figured pretty close. This task completed, Jou looked up again and spoke. "Tell you what. Once I'm done here, you try and get some sleep, all right? You don't look like you got any of that while you were gone."

Satoshi nodded a little; Jou's observation wasn't far from the truth. Then a thought struck him. "Hey, Jounouchi?"

"Jou is easier to say. Wha'sup?"

He chuckled softly. "Reality sucks."

~~~

And once the splint was on and the most painful experience of his short life was over, he lay down on the sofa and fell almost instantly to sleep. He didn't anticipate what happened next, and though he bore witness to it, he still wasn't sure it was possible.

He found himself sitting in a smallish room, rectangular, with something of a low ceiling. The walls, floor, and ceiling of this room were stark white, and it was occupied by very little; namely himself, a closed and locked toy-box, and a small pile, only three or four high, of neatly stacked books. However, it wasn't _what_ he saw that surprised him but that he saw it at all. "Am I…" he whispered, not getting to his feet, _"…dreaming?"_

"It would appear that way," said a voice from behind him, and he whirled around to investigate who or what it was. He was surprised, understandably, to see a near-duplicate of himself leaning against the doorway. A _near-_duplicate only, being a bit sharper around the edges, and yes, definitely taller. It didn't seem to notice his unease and instead walked inside, seemingly inspecting their surroundings. "Interesting. Most interesting."

Satoshi backed away slightly, until he was up against a wall, though the newcomer was still not looking at him. He tried to remind himself it was just a dream, and this look-alike wasn't real … was he? He decided to find out. "Are you … the player character…? Yugi?" he ventured.

The newcomer, holding one of the books and flipping through it with no intent to read, now cast him a sideways glance, as if he hadn't noticed his presence there before. His eyes were cold enough to send chills down the boy's spine, and hard enough to scratch diamond. At last he spoke. "I both am and am not, but more the latter." He set the book back down neatly on the pile. "And you are Satoshi. We've met before."

"We – we have?" Satoshi asked, incredulous. He was pretty sure he'd never met the player to whom he owed his existence, but then again, pretty sure didn't move mountains. Not to mention he really didn't know if this was the player in question. He didn't seem to be. "When? I don't think I would have forgotten you."

Yami sighed, and took a moment to carefully choose his phrasing. "You ought to know something, Satoshi. You are _not_ insane. When you talk about voices in your head, that's me."

Satoshi's eyes widened further. "So – so you _are_ real?!"

He was answered by a nod. "Very much so."

"And that means…" he was scared quite nearly out of his wits by now "… that means that you're the one that tried to – " he wasn't sure what to say, what this other being had attempted, but then decided, yes, that was it " – to take me over!!"

Yami paused for a moment, knowing very well where this conversation was headed, and then responded. "Yes. That was me as well." Before Satoshi could react, he continued. "I realize there are explanations to be made…"

"Start with this one. What _are_ you?" whispered the boy.

"Don't ask me what I _am;_ you'll get a much better answer if you ask what I am _not,"_ Yami replied without missing a beat. "And what I am not is your enemy."

Satoshi was caught by surprise, but narrowed his eyes and stood. "If you're my friend," he said quietly, "I don't _need_ enemies."

"Satoshi – "

"No!" In an almost uncanny act of boldness, he strode up to the other spirit and yelled up into his face. "No, I don't know much, but I know hurting people is wrong!"

"You're half-dead because of those people. I only wanted to help." The voice remained completely calm, and this only served to enhance Satoshi's rage.

"It's not helping if somebody gets hurt!"

Yami suddenly seemed to have had enough of this. He stepped forward and took Satoshi firmly by the shoulders, a cold, violet-almost-to-crimson fire burning in his eyes and into the boy's. "_YOU_ got hurt!! And you're not making any sense at all!"

He searched Satoshi's eyes, and Satoshi searched his, both for the same thing: answers to _Why._ But neither found any, and after a moment, he let go his hold on Satoshi's arms. "You're confused and confusing, Satoshi," he sighed, perhaps out of pent-up frustration. "Strong, yes, I'll give you that, but from what I can see, that's your biggest weakness. And the fact that you're not thinking straight doesn't help matters."

"But – "Satoshi left it at that. His near-twin was right, after all, and it's hard to argue against what you know to be true.

For a short time they were silent. Then Yami turned and began to walk away. "Most people, by the time they reach the age of two weeks, have developed some sense of trust. Perhaps artificial beings work differently."

Satoshi let him take a few more steps before he spoke. "… Artificial …? Is that all I am?"

Yami stopped, but did not turn around or reply.

"Define artificial, then," Satoshi continued. "Can you? Who says what's real or not?" His voice steadily escalated in tone. _"Who made real?! **Who says, 'Let there be light'?!!**"_ He pointed an accusatory finger at him. "Is it _you?!"_

The spirit turned his head halfway, then faced Satoshi full-front. "There are many things I claim to be, but God is not one of them."

"Well, that's the first good thing you've said yet!" Satoshi replied with mock cheerfulness. "Have you got any other good news for me? Tell me how I got here! Tell me how I can _be!_ That's all I want!"

Yami started upon noticing the tears running down the boy's face, but he held his tongue and watched as Satoshi turned away, his little fists clenched tight, shaking slightly, but whether in fear or anger he could not decide. Noiselessly, he once again turned and began to leave.

"I don't care if you're going," said Satoshi, not bothering to look at him. "All I want to know right now is who you are."

He didn't stop walking. "Call me Yami. Other than that I can give you no answers." And then he was gone.

Satoshi waited a few seconds, then sank awkwardly to his knees, the sudden force allowing his tears to leave his face and take up residence on the floor. "Yami, then…" he whispered, knowing full well that no one could hear. "I don't want your real, give me mine…! It doesn't matter if it's not the real real, because neither am I …!"

He scarcely noticed that the color of the room's walls had become a deep, deep shade of blue.

* * *

Yami sat on one of the abundant stone staircases in his own room, his eyes narrowed deeply in contemplation. No, Satoshi was right in that he was not Yugi. But what _he_ wanted to know was, how could he get the real Yugi back? The Yugi he knew?

And when he did, what would happen to Satoshi?

The boy was so confused – both hating reality and existence with every fibre of his being, and wanting desperately to be a part of them, at the same time. Yami wished he could give him the answers he needed, but the questions were beyond even _his_ capacity.

The thought crossed his mind of how amazing was the child's progress in less than three weeks.

If it bothered Satoshi so much, though, he decided, he would keep out of things for a while. And even if he offered his support, he was certain Satoshi would just push him back again. He certainly had the strength to, and it increased every day; of that there was no doubt in his mind. He had a lot of potential, Satoshi, but…

… but if he didn't even feel he could trust himself, potential meant nothing.

Satoshi only trusted Jou. If there was any hope for reconciliation, they would find it in that trust.

Until then, Yami was trapped.

*TSUDZUKU*

**__**

Author's Note: So, how was it? Better than the prologue, right? I thought so. I'm still working on chapter 2, but it will come, it will come. And at where I'm at, it might be even better. There's even some action for a change! Don't you love it? Oh, and the thing I mentioned in my profile (none-too-subtle hint for you to go there, and while you're there you may as well read my other stuff too), hyper-kawaii, make sure you come back. Tell me what you think in your lovely reviews (I got all of two last time, but I would REALLY like some more…)

JAPANESE FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T FIND A DICTIONARY OR ARE TOO LAZY TO:

__

Tadaima: roughly, "I'm home"  
_Tao Pai Pai:_ known as Mercenary Tao to dubbies like myself  
_Owari desu ka?:_ "Is it the end?"  
_Tsudzuku:_ "To be continued"

RUNNING GAG REFERENCES:

I have a gag about Jou hating the Tao Pai Pai episodes of Dragonball for some reason or other.  
Yami, being from Ancient Egypt, would have an innate tendency to not quite grasp the concept of zero; thus, my gag is that he likes to pester Yugi about this a lot.

COME BACK FOR THE NEXT CHAPPY MINNA-SAN!! ANATA O DAISUKI DESU YO!

(o^.^o) The Artist Formerly Known As Ed


	3. Chapter Two: The Fall of the House of Ka...

Artificial Souls  
by TAFKAE

Part One

Chapter Two: The Fall of the House of Kaiba

~~~

Yugi was very unnerved. It was Tuesday afternoon, and there had been a distinct silence in the corners of his mind for almost three full days now. Granted, Yami generally _was pretty quiet, but never __this quiet. He paid next to no attention to anything in school that day, and instead sat, kept to himself, and planned._

He didn't go home with his friends that Tuesday, as he usually did after school. Instead, he'd hastily told them he had something very important to do, which indeed he did, and started for a place he normally made a point of avoiding. Upon reaching it, he hesitated for a moment before entering and made one last internal plea for his aibou to speak, but received only silence as an answer. He swallowed once and began a slow trek down into the mouth of the alley.

It was perhaps a minute or two later that he found himself seized roughly by the lapels and hoisted up until he was face-to-face with exactly what he'd been looking for. He wasn't sure what the guy's name was, but before Ushio had gone mental the two had been partners in crime at some scattered points in their careers, though both careers had been mostly solo. "All right runt, hand over your money or I'll take it."

"I – I don't have any money! I swear!" Yugi protested, struggling. His plan had produced exactly the result he didn't want, though he had halfway expected it. Yami was still silent, and just now the thought crossed the boy's mind that his aibou-niisan would never break off all contact with him this suddenly and then let him get pummeled on top of that… He gulped again and braced himself for a pounding the likes of which he'd not felt in months.

It never came, though. Just as the bigger boy was drawing back his fist to strike, they both heard a voice from the entrance to the alley. "Hey, leave that kid alone or I'll call the police!" it shouted.

The bully didn't need to be told twice. He was quick to toss Yugi at the wall of the alley and run. Yugi clutched his arm as he got up, where it had scraped against the harsh, unforgiving brick. "Ow…"

"Are you all right?" asked the voice's owner as he approached the boy and knelt down.

Yugi nodded and looked up at him. "Yeah, I – " Then a small flicker of recognition crossed his face, disappearing just as quickly as it showed itself. "I think I know you from someplace," he said uncertainly to the man, who had odd silver hair and glasses.

The man seemed to be surprised. "Really? Where from?"

"I dunno," Yugi replied, shrugging it off. "Maybe it's my imagination. But anyways, thanks for scaring that guy off."

"What possessed you to come down here, kid?" the man asked, seeming to ignore the gratitude. "There's no way you could have _not known you'd get sprung."_

Yugi thought for a second. Aibou-niisan would never abandon him. And it wasn't just that he wouldn't, he _couldn't! Period! __As long as I have the Sennen Puzzle – and I do! – he is my aibou-niisan!! …Isn't he…? He started walking slowly back out of the alley. No, that couldn't be it. He'd said so himself. Something had to be wrong, which meant: "I was right," he sighed. "I was right."_

The strange silver-haired man behind him straightened up, confused. "Right? About what?"

"Something's gone wrong," he replied immediately. "I don't know what, but something's not right here. It's like…"

The man allowed the pause to lengthen, and when it became evident that Yugi wasn't going to finish his sentence, he started one of his own. "Well, I don't know how you figured it out so quickly, but you're right."

Yugi whirled to face him, now that it was his turn to be surprised. "What? You mean you know what's going on?"

"I don't just _know, I'm responsible for it," the man said almost proudly. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm called Fold."_

"So you – " Yugi took a few steps forward, looking for the right words. "You know what's wrong? what happened to Yami?"

"Ya – ? I don't know what darkness has got to do with this," Fold remarked, raising one eyebrow. "You're no longer in the real world, Mutou-kun." As the boy's eyes widened, he gestured about with his arms and continued. "This is a near-facsimile of Domino City that I programmed myself. And quite a clever facsimile it is, too – it might even be _better than reality, in my humble opinion – but I digress."_

Yugi couldn't believe it, but he did, every word of it. He had been trapped in a video game. "But – but what about my body? In the _real real world?" he stammered, genuinely terrified._

"It is in inexperienced, but good, I believe, hands." He held up one finger. "But don't worry yourself, you'll be out of here shortly."

_"Whose hands?" Yugi asked desperately, still not sure what this Fold guy was talking about._

"I don't think you've actually met him. He calls himself Satoshi."

He paused. Satoshi. Where had he heard that name before? A vague memory came to mind, one of floating in a dark place, a dream, he'd thought previously, but wasn't so sure about now. And all of a sudden and for a brief moment something breaking the surface of the black water, and he'd seen it, quite nearly his reflection, and then it shattered before him and diluted throughout the inky blackness, around him, past him, maybe some of it _through him, and then he'd been pulled out into the light. Then he'd awoken to Jou calling him Satoshi – he'd thought Jou was just being weird, as usual, but now he finally put it together – the "dream" was real, the shattered reflection Satoshi, and __Satoshi still alive. "Sato…" He trailed off before finishing the name._

"Yes, a very interesting case, that one," Fold continued, somewhat wistfully. "After I switched him with the backup copy, he simply _would not allow me to dispose of him – "_

"Wait, the _backup copy?!" Yugi shouted. He wasn't really sure he __wanted to know what that meant, but he had to, if it had anything to do with Yami's disappearance. He hoped again his assumption was wrong._

Fold hesitated, as though for a second he thought he'd said something amiss, but then he nodded. "Yes, a backup copy. I originally intended just to make a backup of your memories and personality and make a few changes, but I seemed to have messed something up, as 'Satoshi' has become so radically different from you… I am actually not sure what happened myself, but in the end it worked nicely, either way."

Yugi allowed himself a moment to separate out the information. "So… that makes me… not really me, then. Not really Yugi."

"It depends on your definition of 'really,' I suppose," said Fold.

Yugi paused, then – "How could you _do something like this!?" he demanded, trying hard to suppress his enraged tears, and with success. "What kind of monster __are you, anyway!?"_

"An Agent."

The answer, though more straightforward than he'd expected, still surprised him. "What?"

"You _have seen that American movie, haven't you? 'The Matrix.' To use it as an analogy, I am an Agent with the power of the One – a self-sufficient program able to move between games as I please, and to alter them to my liking." He smirked slightly for a second, relishing his clever comparison, then gazed briefly at his hand. A snowball slowly materialized in it, which he threw at Yugi, only to have it disappear just centimeters from his nose and instead splash a fine mist across his face. "You see? And it doesn't stop there. I can even manipulate players, once they've made themselves digital and by association vulnerable."_

"B-but – " Yugi sank to his knees, realizing he was totally at the mercy of this "Agent" called Fold. "But _why?"_

"Ah…" Fold nodded again. "That, my young friend, would be giving you too much information. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to in another game." He was surrounded by a soft violet halo, and then blinked out of sight.

"No, wait!" Yugi shouted, jumping awkwardly back to his feet. "I've still got more questions – !"

But he was alone. Completely, utterly, amazingly alone. It made sense, though, why Yami was gone – he was no longer _his aibou. A copy, that was all he was. Satoshi was the real Yugi, only with amnesia. He chuckled softly. Mai would love this. It was unfolding like a bad soap opera._

Well, soap opera or no, he still needed to pull himself together. Maybe there was someone _inside the simulation who could help him leave it. But who would know how to get out of a virtuapod game one was stuck in…?_

It took him only seconds of deliberation to decide. He turned and started south at full speed, towards the Kaiba mansion.

* * *

When he arrived, out of breath, not knowing just _how much later, nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. No number of re-readings of Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" could have described this old house more vividly. There was even a black and lurid tarn lying in unruffled lustre nearby. The whole place seemed to attract shadows, and as it had become decidedly late and overcast on his way there, which seemed to have the sole purpose of enhancing the effect._

Heh. The Fall of the House of Kaiba. But how could it have gotten this way? he wondered.

"Oh, a thrill-seeker, eh?" said a somewhat scraggly voice from next to the gate to whose bars he clung, and he jumped and looked down at its source to see a moderately old panhandler sitting there.

Calming himself, he pointed up at the mansion. "What happened here?" he asked, awestruck.

"Ah, yes, this old house," said the hobo. "No one lives here anymore, except maybe the rats. It's a horrible tragic story, if you're really sure you want to hear it."

Yugi nodded vigorously. "Yes! I have to know."

The hobo sighed, but then decided he would follow through and tell. "Five years ago, someone broke into the house. Everything got either pillaged or destroyed – it was a mess, I'll tell ya. Very little was spared, precious little. Design schematics, account numbers, money…"

"And…" he was almost afraid to ask "… the Kaiba brothers?"

"Murdered," said the hobo. "Brutally."

Yugi stopped short; he most certainly hadn't been expecting that. "M-murdered?" he half-shouted. "You mean they're – they're _dead?!"_

"Murder tends to do that to people," the other man said quietly and gravely. "Anyway, no one comes here anymore unless they're really brave – or really stupid. The ghosts of the two children are said to still haunt the place."

Yugi's eyes lit up. "So there's still hope – !"

"Hey, where're you going?" the panhandler asked in disbelief as the boy pushed open the gate and ran inside.

It was very creepy when he actually arrived at the main door – any minute now he expected a great whirlwind to pick up and tear the great walls asunder, but no such whirlwind arose; and so he pushed the door open and stepped into the darkening front hall. Twilight was upon him, and the shadows shining through the broken windows of the derelict house lengthened as he made his way inside. "Hello?" he called out, only half-expecting an answer. "Is anybody here?" However, he did not receive one, so he meandered up the stairs, picked a hallway, and started walking down it.

"Kaiba?" he shouted into the darkness, suddenly wishing he'd chosen a corridor with more windows. "Kaiba, are you here?" _Geez, look at me. Screaming a dead guy's name in a house where the only things that can hear me are –_

As if on cue, a rat scuttled between his feet. He yelped – he couldn't see very well in this light, but from what he _could see, it had been a pretty big rat – and then it was followed by a larger white streak that took the same path – a cat, he realized – nearly causing him to lose his balance. By the time he had regained it, the rat and cat were just scuttling round a bend in the corridor. Calming his breathing, he started once again down the carpetless hall and rounded the same corner._

What was that? Something small, clear at the other end of the hall, walking away – Yugi couldn't tell what it was, but it looked familiar, and maybe a bit luminous. He ran forward toward it, not really sure _what it was he expected, but maybe he would get lucky, and –_

A loose floorboard caught his toe, and he couldn't help but shout as it pulled him firmly to the ground. He let out a winded grunt when he made contact, then pushed himself back up, trying to pull air into his lungs, and noticed that the small thing was coming his way, and faster now. He really didn't care; after all, it was probably just that white cat chasing after the rat again. He closed his eyes and concentrating on catching his breath instead.

He was surprised when a small voice piped up next to him. "Are you okay, mister?"

He looked up to find a little boy, with long, ragged black hair and a blue scarf around his neck. "I saw you fall," the boy continued, and hearing his voice again confirmed what Yugi already knew; he nodded once and held up one finger as he finally managed to take a deep breath.

The kid couldn't be more than four years old, but… "You're Mokuba, aren't you?"

Mokuba blinked. "Who are you an' how do ya know my name?"

"Uh…" Yugi paused. "My name's Yugi, and it's a long story. Can you help me f – " At that point he had tried to take Mokuba by the arm, only to find his hand grasping at empty air. Mokuba grimaced uncomfortably and pulled away upon seeing the degree of surprise on Yugi's face.

"I'm sorry," the little boy said hastily. "You're not gonna run away, are you? I need somebody to help me, anybody at all, anybody!"

Yugi quickly regained his composure, still unused to the idea that Kaiba and Mokuba could be _dead, just like that, even if this __was just a virtual world. He knew he would help Mokuba anytime he needed it anyway, and this time the boy just sounded so desperate. "Sure, if there's anything I can do, I'll try and do it. What's wrong?"_

Mokuba wiped a phantasmal tear from his eye. "I can't find my big brother anywhere! I've gotta find him – gotta warn him!"

"Hey, calm down," said Yugi, somewhat relieved. "I came here to look for him, too. Isn't that a funny little coincidence?"

Mokuba sniffled a little, then looked up. "So you _will help me?"_

"Of course!"

He smiled sweetly. With Yugi sitting on his knees as he was, the two of them were at more or less eye-level, so the smile's effect was greatly amplified. "Thank you, Yugi-san. Come on, we've got to find Seto – oh, I hope he's okay…" With that he turned and broke into a run, with Yugi in close pursuit.

"Seto-niisan!" Mokuba shouted as the two of them walked down corridor after corridor, each one seemingly longer than the last, on the lookout for any and all signs of his brother's presence. "Where could he be? What if he got hurt? Oh, man…" the smaller boy mumbled.

"It's okay, Mokuba, I'm sure he's around someplace," said Yugi. "We'll fi- huh?"

Mokuba stopped upon noticing his friend had as well. "What? What is it?"

Yugi walked to the side of the hallway and a previously unnoticed door embedded therein. "I think I heard something coming from in here," he explained as he opened it and was greeted with a rush of musty air. The door obviously hadn't been used in ages. But he was quiet, and held up one finger to indicate that Mokuba should be the same, and together they listened. Of course, they weren't sure what it was they heard, but it was apparent that if they entered that hall, they would find something. The only problem was, it was even darker than the rest of the house, and they couldn't see at all where it led.

He pointed forward into the dark abyss. "Yeah, there's definitely something in there."

Mokuba gulped. "B-but that place is dark and scary!" he whimpered.

"Don't worry, all right? Nothing's gonna happen to you," Yugi reassured him. Not that he wasn't afraid himself; he wasn't so sure nothing was going to happen to _him. Mokuba sure wasn't about to get any deader. He vehemently made up his mind and before he could change it, stepped into the pitch-black hallway –_

– and was surprised to find nothing under his foot. He fell into the floorless room with a shout and groped wildly about to find something he could use as a handhold. Each of his hands found one about simultaneously, and at the same time his legs found a surface to rest on. Suddenly he realized the situation he was in and almost laughed at his idiocy.

"Yugi-san, Yugi-san!" Mokuba was calling. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Yugi replied cheerfully. "Man, I can't believe I just did that." He turned his head up to the slightly better-lit doorframe in which his young friend stood. "This isn't a hallway, it's a _staircase!"_

Mokuba breathed a sigh of relief as Yugi got to his feet. "Oh, that's good. So it's safe?"

"Should be. Just watch that first step," Yugi added in mock warning just before Mokuba took it. "It's a real loo-loo."

To his moderate surprise, the boy's first words once inside the darkness came after a tiny peal of childish laughter. "Oh yeah, I heard that on Space Jam! You're so silly, Yugi-sa – "

The door slammed shut behind them.

There was the brief sound of flesh-hitting-flesh that meant Yugi had just smacked himself on the forehead. "Something tells me we should have seen that coming."

Mokuba whimpered. "I'm scared!"

"I'm scared _and I can't see a thing __and I'm locked in a haunted house … need I go on?" The exact tone of voice Yugi used was hard to describe; in part, it was just as whiny and upset as Mokuba's, and in part it was a lame attempt to alleviate the ghost-boy's fears. In total, it only served to make the moaning and whining louder._

Well, that explained what the hobo had said about being "really brave or really stupid." It was dark, and he was in a room with a ghost. He probably should have expected some moaning.

Then again, it was dark, and he was in a room with a four-year-old. He probably should have expected some moaning anyway.

"It's _haunted?!" the four-year-old wailed in horror. "Oh my gosh, now I've __really got to find Seto! Man, I hope the bad ghosts didn't get him…" Yugi heard a few quick steps on the narrow staircase behind him, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up as the oddest feeling washed over him, and then the footsteps were in front of him, accompanied by a small voice shouting Seto's name as loud as it could._

Yugi shivered. "Mokuba, could you be more careful maybe? You're gonna run through a _wall if you're not!"_

"Gomen nasai, Yugi-san. Setooooooo!!"

They continued like this until they reached the bottom, Mokuba yelling his big brother's name every few seconds or so, and progressively louder, so that Yugi found himself wincing every time the name was shouted. To perhaps alleviate the ringing in his ears, he joined in with his own call of "Kaiba!"

If they'd been in a pool, it could have been a game of Marco Polo. Given the darkness, it probably could have been anyway.

At the bottom of the staircase, the wall turned sharply on both sides, opening up into a room or perhaps just a wider hallway; either way, it did so suddenly enough to cause Yugi to lose the wall as his guide. He stumbled forward in the dark for a few moments until he hit something that was undeniably a wall. He groped along it for an exit, found a corner, groped the other way, and was met with a sliding door. He opened it and felt around on either side of the wall's opposite face, found success, and exploited it. The fluorescent lights flickered a few times, then flooded the small room he was in and the hallway they themselves occupied with a beautiful white light that Yugi had to squint to see through.

He turned back towards the room. "Mokuba, over here!" he exclaimed, and the boy came running. "Don't want to lose you in there," he added once his little friend was within earshot of normal speech.

"What's that sound?" asked Mokuba almost before Yugi had finished his sentence. They both listened in absolute silence, the latter taking slow, shallow breaths and trying not to make a sound, and the former doing the same simply because he had no idea he didn't need to worry about it. Closer and closer – rapid footsteps, but light, and they couldn't tell from which direction they came. However, there was no doubt in either boy's mind that there was someone – or some_thing – else there. Mokuba cringed and hid behind Yugi, and Yugi adhered to the edge of the doorframe that he thought would provide him the most cover from the end of the hall from whence the footsteps came._

He ended up hiding from an echo, and instead facing quite plainly a boy, not much taller than himself, with short brown hair and deep cerulean eyes. He sported a cute sweater-vest and the face of a full-grown lion whose territory has been imposed upon by a lesser beast. "Who the hell are you and what're you doing in my house?!"

Though, given the circumstances…

Mokuba, though hiding, recognized the voice instantly and ducked out from behind Yugi's legs. "Seto! Seto, it's really you!!"

"Mokuba…?" the older Kaiba asked incredulously, his eyes widening noticeably as his little brother dashed towards him with his stubby arms spread wide.

"I was so scared, Seto!" Mokuba literally cried, tears falling down his cheeks as his brother kneeled down and hugged him tight.

Kaiba looked up over Mokuba's shoulder and glared at Yugi maybe even the most dangerously that the latter had seen out of _anyone, even the bigger Kaiba that __he knew. "It's all right, ototochan. That lightning-strike victim won't bug you anymore."_

"Yugi-san?" Mokuba turned his head the opposite way, inadvertently giving Kaiba a faceful of his raven-black hair, though if he'd been able to see through it, they would have both been looking at the party in question. "No, no, Yugi-san is my friend. I came to warn you about bad men!" he shouted, turning suddenly back and separating himself a bit from his brother's embrace.

"What?"

"There's bad men in the house – I only saw two, but I think there's three." He paused a moment to think. "One had a gun – I saw him second – the first one had a knife. A big one. He hurt me with it, but I got away to find you. I had to warn you, oniisan! I just had to, but I couldn't find you anywhere!!" By now he was crying again, but Kaiba shushed him and prompted him gently to continue. "Then – then – " he seemed to be debating whether or not this object were of some significance, and then decided it was "– I fell down once, and then it – I didn't hurt anymore. So I started running looking for you and – " Here he stopped for a second, uncertainly, since his brother was averting his eyes. "Are you still listening?" he asked in a half-whisper, and then his voice escalated. "Seto, this is important! We have to get away from the bad men! And Yugi-san told me this house is haunted, and he wouldn't lie, I know he wouldn't!"

Kaiba chuckled a little. "Oh, he wasn't lying, Mokuba," he said quietly. "There are exactly two ghosts in this house. One of them's me. And the other…"

Mokuba's eyes went wide – his brother? a ghost? the very idea was absurd – but then he whipped around to look at Yugi, and Yugi knew very well that he expected nothing less than to see right through him. Kaiba laid one hand on his shoulder to bring his attention back. "No, no – your _friend Yugi-san isn't it," he corrected, with thinly veiled contempt lacing the word "friend." "I'm one of the ghosts, and __you're the other." When Mokuba was left speechless with an __I'll-never-believe-you expression on his face, Kaiba took that as his cue to continue. "The bad men already got us. Both of us. I saw your body when the police found you – you wouldn't want to hear how it looked, it wasn't pretty – but by then we'd both been dead for hours at least."_

"B-but…" Mokuba stammered, "…but then why didn't I find _your body?"_

Kaiba twitched. "Not much left to find," he said at last, "let's not take in any further than that. I went to watch it while you were still here, I guess – you, they were able to give a decent burial, but they had to cremate me."

Yugi cringed, an awful feeling of nausea rising from the mental image the young ghost had planted. At best, Kaiba just hadn't been recognizable, and at worst… _Ugh._

"But anyway," he continued, "I doubt you came here just to follow Mokuba around." The comment was addressed to Yugi this time, and the sniveling little brother was held close to his chest.

Yugi was abruptly snapped out of his miniature trance. "Wh- oh, that's right. I need your help, Kaiba – if you can give it to me…"

He trailed off when Kaiba sprang to his feet, the look in his eyes transformed from mere hostility into barely quelled malice. "Don't call me by that name," he hissed. "I owe nothing to Kaiba – the family, the man, the name – I owe it nothing. It was stupid of me to let him adopt me and Mokuba. All it ever did was get us both killed." His eyes narrowed further. "I am Seto, and he is Mokuba. **_Nothing. More.__"_**

Had Yugi been, say, Ushio, he might have laughed and challenged Seto to do something about his choice of what to call him.

Yugi, fortunately, wasn't that stupid. He didn't know what a ghost would be able to do to him, and wasn't keen on finding out. So he just nodded. "At any rate, I _do need your help."_

"What if I don't feel like giving it to you?" said Seto with the air of haughtiness in his voice that only he could have managed, looking back to his brother, who was now clinging to him but looking at Yugi.

"Please – you have to!"

"I don't 'have to' do anything for you," he snapped. "I don't take orders, not from anyone."

Yugi glanced at the wide brown eyes of Mokuba, his own amethyst ones sending a silent plea to the younger boy. Mokuba took the hint and looked up. "Seto, if it hadn't been for Yugi-san, I wouldn't have ever found you down here. Even if I'd thought of the place, I'd have been too scared to come in. Yugi-san helped me so I wouldn't be a'scared anymore."

"Did he," Seto replied seamlessly, almost venomously, but with a sudden tint of interest in his tone. They stared at each other, Yugi and Seto, for a few seconds, and then the latter smirked a little. "Well, Yugi, it seems this will help your cause a lot – I'll at least let you tell me what the problem is."

So Yugi did just that, trying as best he good to stay out of the reality issues except where he needed to delve into them for the situation to make sense. The further he got into it, the more desperate he felt, and the more Mokuba sucked his thumb, a habit he seemed to have remade in the past twenty minutes.

"… then I figured you were the only one who could help me, so I came here – after all, it _is your virtuapod game," he finished, hoping very much he was pushing the right buttons._

"A pod game that was barely in its infancy when its father died," Seto replied, not missing a beat. "At least, in this sad little excuse for a world." He paused, taking pleasure in the dismay radiating from Yugi's face. "It sounds like quite a challenge, maybe even worth my time – " the boy's eyes lit up "– but there's _still not enough in your offer for me to do anything. – " and switched off entirely._

He greatly enjoyed watching the faces of emotional people while he toyed with their feelings. Yugi was the most expressive he'd met in a long time. Oh, he _was going to have fun with this!_

"Well – uh – " Yugi stammered, his mind racing at full speed to come up with a better proposal, and only actually procuring one. "There's got to be some way I could help you in return, right?"

That was exactly what Seto wanted him to say. "My brother back, a challenge, you out of my hair, _and a favor…" he listed, ticking the points off on his fingers as he went. "Yes, that ought to be plenty." He knew just the favor, too, and now he'd found a sucker willing to provide the one ingredient he couldn't get on his own. The setup was absolutely __perfect._

"So…" Yugi trailed off slightly. "What're you going to want for the favor?"

Seto hesitated a few seconds, feigning deep thought though he knew exactly what he wanted. "Hm… oh! I've got it!" He couldn't help just a hint of an evil smile as he said, "Your body."

Exactly as he'd expected, Yugi freaked out. _"**WHAT?! My – ???"**_

"Not permanently, of course – you look like you got hit by lightning as a baby and your hair never fully recovered." He chuckled. "No, not even for very long, really; one night ought to do, maybe even less."

"I – I really don't know," Yugi sputtered, finally regaining his composure. "I mean, what if just _being possessed could hurt me?" As soon as he asked that question, he remembered Yami and mentally smacked himself for saying something that stupid._

Seto didn't catch it at all. "Less work for me, then," he said as though it were no big deal. "But you'll probably be just fine. Don't worry about it."

"But what would you – _why?"_

He laughed softly. "Why not? You're desperate, and I've got some things I meant to take care of five years ago." There was a pause in which he simply waited impatiently, then he spoke again. "Look, do you want to go back to that other game or not? Those are my final terms," he said demandingly. "Just say yes to them and we can get straight down to fulfilling your end of the bargain. Is it a deal?"

The pause grew again as Yugi thought… and saying "Yes" was the last thing he remembered for quite some time.

~~~

Jou sighed and bit into another hot dog. He lived close enough to the bus stop that he saw the 7:40 bus come and go, and didn't bother to catch it. Satoshi had been sleeping peacefully for a good hour now (a good sign, considering that the lightest touch on one of his wounds would probably wake him), so Jou had made up his mind to skip school and keep an eye on him.

Still, it was kind of unnerving – the situation in its entirety. Unnerving, and confusing. Saturday they'd just been at the arcade, another two nobodies out to waste their lives (and more importantly their money) on video games. But then Yugi had disappeared and now, on Wednesday, _Satoshi had shown up at his door, half-dead. Satoshi, who only existed in a video game himself, if he existed at all. But, he thought as he took another bite, even if there __was a way to put a non-player into the real world, or at least into the body of someone who lives there, which apparently there was, __why would anyone want to? And why to Yugi?_

There certainly didn't seem to be a way to make a financial profit from the endeavor, so that ruled _that out. If someone wanted the Sennen Puzzle, the best way would probably be to unplug the pods and take it; and if anything, Satoshi was harder to take it from. If someone wanted revenge on Yugi…_

That almost _had to be it. Some Pegasus-worshipper or maybe even Peggy himself was mad at Yugi for beating the creep, like Otogi had been, and had gone and made an AI like Satoshi to take Yugi's place, while trapping the real Yugi in a computer game._

Only there were a few problems with that theory. For one thing, Yugi had most _definitely logged off, which wouldn't give him anywhere to go – after all, even if there were other games out there, you couldn't log off into one of those – so no one had a clue where he was. And for another thing, Peggy (in Jou's eyes anyway) wasn't smart enough to pull off something that complicated – though if he was supposed to replace Yugi, Satoshi was the greatest botch-job of all time. But even so, the kid was probably the most complex AI Jou would ever see – a masterpiece. He didn't need to be a programmer to figure that out. No, Peggy and his cult following – collective IQ: 3 – could __never do something that well._

_"Spoons," he mumbled to himself, and popped the last of the hot dog into his mouth. That left no suspect, no motive, nothing. He was most definitely out of ideas and closed._

"Mornin', Katsuya," said a mostly awake voice from the hallway that Jou instantly recognized as his father's. He nearly choked on his hot dog for three reasons. One: he hadn't expected his dad to be up this early, two: he hadn't expected him to be sober, and three: he hadn't heard him come down the stairs.

His dad entered the room to investigate. "You okay?" he asked with a tired gruffness in his voice.

Koff, koff. "Yeah, it's cool. Hey Dad, can I ask you a favor?"

Just then his dad noticed Satoshi. "Jesus!" he exclaimed. "Who the hell is that?"

Jou cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah. That's the favor."

* * *

Satoshi woke up to find himself being deposited somewhere. Whatever was moving him was being exceedingly gentle with his bad arm, but it still hurt just enough to rouse him. He looked up to see Jou's face over him, and then around to find –

Car.

He looked back at Jou, who was trying to strap him in without hurting him, and didn't seem to have noticed he was awake. "Where're we going, Jou?" he asked quietly.

"The hospital, just to get that wrist looked at," Jou explained.

Satoshi wasn't quite sure what to think. _What if it's a trap? He wondered frantically. __The last time he took me someplace, I got stuck with that Faerie guy – I don't doubt he's a player character – and he__ tried to kill__ me, he even admitted it to my face!_

But then another thought crossed his mind. _Jou didn't know. He couldn't have known. I don't think he'd ever willingly__ do something that would get me hurt… maybe if I'd noticed him at the arcade, I'd have been okay – not getting the stuffing beat out of someone else's body._

By this point Jou had finished buckling him in, and stood. "I'll just go get Dad, and then we'll be outta here faster than you can say 'Tao Pai Pai sucks.'" He noticed his friend about to try, and interjected with, "Say it slow."

"That wasn't what I was going to say," said Satoshi, a bit amused.

"Well, what _were you going to say?"_

His stomach said it before he could, and he killed any uncertainties there might have been by saying it anyway. "I'm hungry." His tone plainly displayed his embarrassment.

Jou smiled. "A'right, I'll get you some food while I'm in there. Hang tight, 'k?"

Satoshi nodded and gave the OK sign with his good hand. As his friend regressed to the house, he sighed. Maybe not everything about reality sucked after all…

_…just that **Yami thing.**_

* * *

Yami winced, but remained silent; he knew how it would work out if he didn't. It had happened once before at the Duelist Kingdom, and had almost made Yugi lose before he'd made the finals. With so much energy expended keeping a stubborn Puzzle-spirit under control, there just wasn't much left for other tasks, and certainly not enough to concentrate on a mere _duel. If anything, all he'd end up doing would be detrimental either to Satoshi or – considering how strong Satoshi was – __himself._

It was definitely interesting, and, as many interesting things, perhaps a little frightening. It had been definitively established that Satoshi was scared to death of him – scared enough, even, to resist.

Or not scared enough to succumb. Perhaps he knew, somehow, that he didn't need to be afraid. Perhaps somewhere, deeply hidden within him, was a part of the boy that knew Yami meant him no harm.

Perhaps.

Then again, Yami was in no position to ask.

*TSUDZUKU*

**_Author's note: Dang it, I keep forgetting the author's note the first time I upload. Well, I know so far I've only got five reviews, but I love all you people who gave them to me! *hands out candy to all those who reviewed* And the hyper-kawaii chibi-ghost-Kaiba made an appearance at last! (He's also gonna be in Part 2, as Part 2 stands now!) Yes, he's a sadist and a jerk, but his heart's in the right place. Sorry if you think I made Jou sound too intellectual… he's just thinking for a change, that's all… there's nothing wrong with that… *hides under the table*_**

I've finished writing chapter 3 (just last night, during Mobile Suit Gundam (one of the most boring and badly-drawn shows out there)) and Part 2 is underway – Satoshi does come back, if you were wondering, but since you weren't, I'm safe from people pelting me about spoilers.

God, I hope the dubbers didn't change Malik's name to Terrence. I've heard they don't, but I have no guarantees until he formally introduces himself in the WB episodes ("I am Malik, and now I'm going to kill you") … Also can't wait for Yami's date with Anzu. Yes, that does actually happen. Oh, the possibilities… Yami discovers DDR _and girls, in one day!_

REVIEW! And if you liked this story, please recommend it to your friends! Hell, recommend it to your enemies, I don't care, I just need reviews!!!

JAPANESE FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T FIND A DICTIONARY OR ARE TOO LAZY TO:

_Ushio: a bully who didn't make it to the dub; Yami's first victim. I'm not sure Yugi knows it's __his fault Ushio went mental, but the guy deserved it, either way…  
__Sennen: a period of a thousand years, better known as – dun da da daaaaa! – a Millennium!  
__aibou-niisan: a little pet name I made up for Yami. __Aibou means "companion" and __niisan means "big brother." (__Oniisan means the same thing, and as a nitpicky thing, __niisan can also be used as a suffix… obviously. But I do know there are some pretty dumb people in the world…)  
__gomen nasai: I'm under the impression this one's obvious, but it roughly translates to "I'm very sorry."  
__ototochan: little brother. Not sure if this can be used as a suffix, but it sounds awkward, so I don't use it that way.  
_Otogi:_ called "Duke" in the dub. Yes, the guy who's obsessed with Pegasus and dice. If you don't know him I pity you; he is sizzlin'!  
_Katsuya:_ Jou's first name  
_tsudzuku:_ the meaning hasn't changed since last chapter. "To be continued."_

GAGS, SUBTLETIES, ET CETERA:

- Keep in mind that, when Fold explains the situation to Yugi, they're both speaking Japanese, and _yami means "darkness" or "dark." Thus, Fold thinks Yugi is talking nonsense.  
- "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe is quite good, a classic actually, and if you haven't read it you should. While you're at it, read "April 2005: Usher II" by Ray Bradbury. It's terrific, too. And they're both pretty short, so you'll be able to get through them pretty fast.  
- In "Monsters, Inc" Mike suggests that they dig a tunnel under the city with spoons. Sulley: _"Spoons."_ Mike: "Okay, that's it. Out of ideas. We're closed!" Watch the movie, dammit.  
- And once again, Jou doesn't like Tao Pai Pai…_

I found a fanfiction contest somewhere. Anybody wanna tell me if I should enter it? If I've got the next chapter up by the time you read this, it still applies – I MUST KNOW!

Bluebug, I know you're out there –

Everybody – I said it last time, I'll say it this time, I still don't know if it's grammatically correct: ANATA O DAISUKI DESU YO!

(o^.^o) The Artist Formerly Known As Ed


	4. Chapter Three: Error Triplicate

Artificial Souls  
by TAFKAE

Part One

Chapter Three: Error Triplicate

~~~

Pain.

If anyone bothered to look, they would see Yugi running down a back street, the jacket sleeves on his school uniform rolled up even in the awful October cold. A closer inspection would reveal something heavy in his inside pocket, and closer still, that his face was sweating – not heavily, but more than lightly.

His eyes had changed slightly in their appearance, having taken on a slightly more cobalt hue, and also in that Yugi was no longer the one seeing through them.

Pain.

Seto would never have guessed it so hard to keep in control of a vessel that wasn't naturally his own. But he couldn't give up now, not now that he was so close to his goal. He'd already gotten two-thirds of the way through it. He couldn't blow it now – he owed his brother that much.

But at every breath, every step, every borrowed nerve ending ignited again…!

It wouldn't matter for much longer now. He was at the front door of the house. Quickly and quietly he decided on the details, and reached up to ring the doorbell.

The man who answered it was pretty big, gruff, and with an expression on his face that made plain the fact he was still mostly asleep. His name was Jim Osbourne, but that wouldn't matter for much longer either. "Who the hell are you?" he asked hoarsely.

Seto reached into his inside jacket pocket and produced the heavy thing from therein, one end of it pointed at the man's head. "Good evening, murderer," he said quietly.

Osbourne backed up in surprise, now very much awake. "What – ?! What're you doing?!" he asked in disbelief as Seto advanced on him, matching step for step to let no distance open between them.

"Something that should have been done years ago," said the boy calmly, but with his voice tinted with rage. "You _do_ remember Seto and Mokuba, don't you? You should," he added. "You're the one who cut Mokuba up like that – after what you did to him it's a wonder he survived as long as he did. But honestly, you didn't think you'd just get away with it, _did_ you? Hm?"

There was a brief silence, and then a _clunk_ sound that could only be the telephone receiver. Seto chuckled. "You can't see the numbers back there, you idiot. I know what you're trying to do." He didn't move and might have been a statue, had he not been speaking. "Before I do this, I just want you to know – _I am Seto."_

For a moment another pause manifested, and then Seto continued to the speechless older man. "Now die."

He fired. Jim Osbourne was dead before he hit the floor.

He turned to go, then noticed a Magic Marker on the table nearby. He picked it up, scrawled a message on a scrap of paper, tossed it down onto the corpse, and left. It was starting to rain as the boy headed home, but he didn't notice, or didn't care. The pain was excruciating now, literally unbearable, but he had to fulfill his end of the bargain to get this kid away from him for good.

And he couldn't very well do that if he left him out in the rain all alone, could he?

~~~

"How much further is it?"

Jou sighed. Satoshi had received a crutch from the emergency room people, and it was slowing both of them up considerably to their goal. "Not much, okay? Just chill. We'll be there soon."

They were going to the arcade. Jou wasn't sure what they would do once they got there, but however they were going to get back Yugi and Satoshi to the right places, step one was almost undeniably to be found in the Forsaken Lands of the Duel Monsters game. He didn't know how they'd find Yugi, or how they'd get him back to the real world, or what would end up happening to Satoshi when they did. Of course, Satoshi had been afraid to go back for fear of ending up in the hands of the Faerie of Lost Dreams again, but Jou had given his word to protect him. And protect him he would.

But it was too late to mull anything over now; they'd arrived.

The bell over the doorframe jingled slightly as Jou pushed the door open and Satoshi limped inside. The former reached into his pocket and found the two 500-yen bills his father had given him. He'd said it was for lunch. He'd lied. The two boys walked through the mostly empty arcade as quickly as Satoshi's condition would allow, towards the virtuapods. Both were empty, so Jou paid, and with very little further ado, they both got in.

The pod lids didn't close, though. A man walked out, seemingly from nowhere, and frowned. "Shouldn't you two be in school?"

"We got the day off today," said Jou. "But just our school," he added quickly.

"Then why's the arcade still empty?"

Jou was caught off guard and tried hard to think of a response, but Satoshi came up with one instantly. "Maybe the 'Closed' sign is kind of misleading. We saw the hours and figured you must be open," he explained.

The guy gave him an odd look, but apparently bought it. "Are you sure you should be playing that one? You don't really look so good…"

Satoshi displayed his newly casted wrist. "Try playing Tekken 3 with _this._ Forsaken Lands is about the only game I _can_ play."

For a moment nothing was said, and almost for the first time since he'd met him, Jou got to see Satoshi actually _smile._ Just as the latter was about to ask the man whether he wanted their business or not (as he was obviously some kind of manager), he got a reply. "Point taken. All right boys, have fun."

Jou stared at Satoshi in disbelief as the pod lids slowly started to close. Satoshi grinned confidently – almost cockily, perhaps even a little Tasuki-ly – back and gave him a thumbs-up.

He was still smiling, despite his anxiety about his uncertain fate, when he and Jou logged on.

~~~

The place was a dark and dreary expanse of nothingness, coated with a dark grey fog or mist thick enough that, looking down, Yugi could barely see the outlines of his own feet. He looked back up to see the mist ahead of him had parted somewhat to reveal…

"Yami?!" he shouted with glee. "Where were you? Why weren't you talking to me? I was really worried there for a while!"

To his surprise, Yami just glared at him. "Why are you trying to go to the real world?"

"Wh… what?"

"You heard me. You know there's nothing for you there," he snapped, "that there's nothing for you to come back to."

"No, Yami, there's _you!"_ Yugi shouted, shaking his head. "They could duplicate everything here except you, that's why I have to go back!"

Yami nodded. "Yes, they could duplicate everything… even _you._ You know it's true; Fold told you himself," he added, seeing the boy's denial make itself obvious on his face. "You're a _copy._ You're not really Yugi; _Satoshi_ is. You're just a backup copy of his memories that took on a personality of its own somehow, even though it wasn't supposed to."

"But – " he sputtered as the Puzzle-spirit turned as if to leave.

"But _what?"_ said Yami harshly, not turning back.

"But… you're supposed to be… to be _my_ aibou-niisan! Not – not _Satoshi's!_ We're partners…!" he tried, and after a pause, "We're _friends…!"_

There was another moment of silence broken only by the pounding of Yugi's heartbeat in his ears, and then Yami spoke again. "No. Not us. I am bound to the _real_ Yugi – _his_ dark side, not that of some facsimile. You are just a facsimile, and I bid you goodbye." With that, he walked off and began to vanish into the mist.

Yugi jumped a bit, and tried to run after him. "N-no! Yami, wait! _Yami!"_ As he was running, though, his foot caught on something unseen, and he found himself falling, and Yami disappeared – betrayed him, abandoned him, left him alone to instead help someone who wasn't technically supposed to be real at all! – but he didn't stop falling, falling, falling…

It seemed like forever, and he really didn't feel an impact; one second he was falling, and the next he was lying on the surface, with his eyes closed, and a subtle warmth resting on his face. It occurred to him that he was no longer in the dark, dank, misty place.

At the same time he remembered the dream and once again just how alone he was. "Aibou…"

"Well, it's about _time_ you got up," said a harsh voice from beside him. "I was starting to wonder if you'd be joining us."

His eyes snapped open and then squinted at the sunlight he found they were gazing into. It had to be around midmorning, and he was ghastly tired and a bit sore all over. Trying to adjust to his surroundings, he sat up and blinked a few times. Where…? Oh yes, now he recognized the place. It was the old Kaiba mansion. He was at the bottom of the main staircase, and sitting on the banister nearby was none other than the young ghost of Seto.

"I never knew you had a sense of humor," Yugi said simply.

"I would never have guessed, though," Seto continued, ignoring him completely. "How much strain it is on the host, not just the user." Seeing he'd piqued Yugi's curiosity, he added, "I couldn't move for close to two hours. You've been out cold for almost _twelve."_

_"Twelve?"_ asked Yugi in disbelief.

"Yeah, it gave me plenty of time to program you back where you need to be," said Seto almost casually. "But I had to wait until you woke up to say the proverbial 'Energize.' If I transferred you asleep there would be no guarantee your code would ever allow you to wake up again. Oh, the possibilities…"

"So, does that mean that you could send me back anytime now?"

Seto nodded. "Absolutely, though there's no actual _proof_ that you'll get there in one piece. The gun made it, but all the Magic Marker made was a mess…"

Yugi got to his feet, his muscles seeming to squeal in protest. "Then why are we waiting?!" he asked more impatiently than was allowed by his normal, unharried demeanor.

Seto turned his head to the top of the stairs, and indicated this with another nod. "Ototochan wanted to say goodbye."

As if on cue, the echoing little footsteps pattered down the hallway upstairs toward them like so many hailstones on a rooftop, and at the head of the staircase appeared the tiny figure of Mokuba. The boy dashed eagerly down the flight of steps, in his haste occasionally running his foot through a stair a _living_ person would have tripped over, and stopped upon reaching Yugi. "Yugi-san, you're okay, right?" he gushed almost before his arrival, concern plainly pulling at the fringes of his voice.

Yugi blinked, then smiled. "Well, yeah! Why wouldn't I be?"

Mokuba giggled. "You're silly."

"And you're Mokuba," said Yugi, ruffling the boy's hair, which, in its nonexistence, produced little more than a distinct tingle in the hand he used.

"I hope you come back again," said Mokuba longingly and perhaps a little mournfully.

Yugi thought for a moment. He wasn't sure he wanted to ever return to this strange-but-familiar unreality, but Mokuba wanted him to… Even if he decided to, though, how could he? Oh well – "If I ever find a way to, I will," he replied.

"Yay!"

All this time Seto had remained patiently silent, but now he spoke. "Just say goodbye already, you two, I haven't got all day." Of course, this wasn't true, as he most certainly _did_ have all day and quite probably a very long time afterwards, but it was the principle of the thing that counted.

Mokuba smiled in a way that could melt just about anything, and raised his hand shyly to wave. "Okay, bye-bye Yugi-san," he chirped.

"Bye, Mokuba," said Yugi, waving back, though not as fervently.

"Oh, Yugi – " Seto added in, seemingly as an afterthought, "– thanks for everything." And before Yugi could respond, he'd said "Energize" half-jokingly to his computer, and the logon process was underway, and then the false Domino City was gone.

~~~

LOGON ERROR.

Satoshi tensed – he remembered being in a place like this before – right before he'd last run into the Faerie four days prior – floating vacantly in a black piece of nothing, clinging then to existence and now to sanity – and he was afraid.

DATA TOO SIMILAR. ATTEMPTING TO COMPENSATE.

Yugi tensed – Seto _had_ said the Magic Marker he'd tested this transfer protocol on, had been atomized – he had no idea what it would do to _living_ creatures – that there was no guarantee he'd make it there at all – maybe he'd be lost in cyberspace forever – he shouldn't have risked it all on a dead gambit! – oh, he was afraid.

THIS WILL ALL BE SORTED OUT IN A FEW SECONDS. 

And suddenly Satoshi felt himself pulled away from wherever he was, across time and space, perhaps, and perhaps out of the darkness and perhaps into it further, but with a target, that much he could discern.

PLEASE WAIT.

And then Yugi also felt himself being pulled toward something, or, if he had been concentrating harder he would have known, _somethings,_ and all he knew was that something bad was going to happen – but that was all he could discern.

PLEASE WAIT.

So if computer data could be thrown, that was what was done to the two boys at that moment. The logon system tossed them rather roughly next to each other, trying to make out any sort of difference between them, and then it stopped and thought. And in the next two or three seconds, which seemed drastically slowed to them, Yugi Mutou and his almost-twin Satoshi finally met.

Satoshi, awestruck, was the first to speak after he saw his double. _"You're_ the player character! You're Yugi!"

"You're Satoshi," Yugi breathed, not at all as enthusiastically. "But – but _I'm_ not the real Yugi, _you_ are."

"Wh…what?" Satoshi blinked. "No way. Then who does that make you?"

Yugi hung his head. "A copy."

Satoshi shook his own. "No… no, that can't be right," he said quietly, uncertainty causing his voice to waver. _"I'm_ the copy. I'm just a guy who looks like Yug- like _you._ I don't have my act together at all – all I've got is a head full of mumbles. I don't belong in the real world at all. I can't make it there!"

"Fold showed up himself and told me _exactly_ what happened to us two weeks ago – and he's the one who _caused_ it all!" Yugi glared pleadingly into the other boy's eyes. "I'm just memories, Satoshi! I wasn't supposed to be a person in the first place!"

"Neither was I! _I'm_ supposed to be a soulless drone!"

"Quiet, you two, this arguing is getting us nowhere."

The arrival startled everyone, including the system.

Both boys looked up, and at that moment it was a simple thing to tell them apart; one paled considerably and the other shrank slightly back and gritted his teeth, his eyes remaining sad, betrayed. But the cold, sharp eyes distinguished the new arrival from either of the other two – though they were the only things that did.

ERROR TRIPLICATE –

"It's you!" they both shouted at once, Satoshi in fear and anger and Yugi in just anger.

Yami was surprised at Yugi's reaction to his being there, but he tried not to show it. "Yes," he said quickly, acknowledging both of them simultaneously. "We need to resolve this soon; it won't take the computer long to sort the data out."

"No argument there," said Satoshi, regaining both his color and his composure.

"I think the answer to your problem is simple," Yami said, trying to keep his voice even, though the hostility he could feel from Yugi was almost overwhelming in its strength. What could have happened to the poor kid to make him feel this way? he wondered vaguely, then decided to ask later. For now he continued with what he had to say. "I say that I both am and am not Yugi, but more not; perhaps something along those lines…?"

PROCESSING TERNARY DATA SCHEME. A THIRD AVATAR MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE. CURRENT ASSOCIATION WITH AVATAR ONE.

"You, Satoshi, are more _not,_ and Yugi is more _so."_

This made no sense whatsoever to Satoshi, and he shrank back a little. "That's not simple at all," he murmured. "You can't _be_ something and _not_ be something at the same time."

"And thus, the reason I rarely use myself as a metaphor," Yami sighed. "But who are you? If someone would have asked you to introduce yourself two days ago, what would you have said?"

WARNING: DOUBLE ATTACHMENT MAY NOT BE SEPARABLE. PROCEED?

"Yugi," said one hesitantly, and the other, "Satoshi," almost contemporaneously.

Yami nodded. "And there you are."

"But that would have been two days ago," Yugi protested. "Things are different now!"

DATA CHANGE HAS OCCURRED. ASSOCIATION NO LONGER KNOWN. PLEASE SPECIFY ASSOCIATION.

"That's true, but not in the way you mean, Yugi." Yami glanced at Satoshi. "Things are indeed quite different, but – "

Yugi shook his head. "Don't… you don't need to explain. If you'd rather go with him…" he lowered his head so his eyes were invisible beneath his golden bangs "… I understand."

Yami stared at him in disbelief for a moment. "That wasn't what I was saying at all!"

"You can _have_ him," Satoshi mumbled.

"Yugi…"

PLEASE SPECIFY ASSOCIATION!

Yugi was surprised to find Yami holding him by the shoulders with both hands. "Aibou…" the latter said quietly, and he looked up at him, and found maybe… was it _apology_ in his eyes?

Satoshi suddenly looked up, startled by something. "There's no time –!" he shouted.

ASSOCIATION ESTABLISHED TO AVATAR TWO. WARNING: DOUBLE ATTACHMENT MAY NOT BE SEPARABLE. PROCEED?

"I… Yami, don't…"

"Don't what? Yugi, you are who you think you are, and it is to you that I am bound. _You."_ He glanced at Satoshi for a second, and Satoshi smiled and gave him a thumbs-up, so he turned his head back. "Let's go home."

Yugi nodded slightly after a pause, his eyes threatening to overflow.

LOGON PROCESS REINITIATED. STAND BY.

And too fast for anyone to react, he jumped up and took Yami in a great hug.

WARNING: DATA UNSTABLE.

Satoshi's eyes widened again. He had just realized something: he could die – they could all die – right here if the computer screwed up badly enough…

LOGON ABORTED.

And then they were torn away from each other, all of them; into the terrible darkness, none knowing where they'd end up but each hoping it wasn't where they'd just come from.

Mere milliseconds later it was quiet in the void once again.

~~~

Yugi woke up, gasping for breath, to find himself back once again in a virtuapod. It didn't open automatically, at least not just yet, as though unsure of what to do about its error. He pressed a small key labeled "Open" and the lid did just that. Then he tried to stand –

Whoops. Bad idea.

He did manage to get up, marginally; or rather, just enough to fall out but catch his good leg on something and land on his side. Grunting, he sat up and looked around, cradling his suddenly throbbing wrist. The arcade – he was back at the arcade. He wasn't wearing his school uniform anymore but instead what he remembered having worn on Saturday. He gently pulled his hand down and grasped the Sennen Puzzle…

_Yes, I'm here._

His eyes brightened a little bit, though the pain he was in didn't allow him to smile. _That's good,_ he said silently. As he pulled himself to an unsteady stand, leaning on a machine for support, he chuckled. _'It's in good hands,' he said…_ He frowned. _But then again, he –_

_Don't you even _think_ about going off on that track again._

Yugi sighed. _I'm just so confused…_

He waited, unnoticed, for a few minutes by the machine, and then the other pod opened and Jou hopped out. "Hey, what's wrong? I got kind of worried when you didn't log in…"

"I – I'm okay," said Yugi hesitantly. "Pretty much. I think."

"Oh, that's good." Jou pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "Well, you wanna try again?"

Yugi blinked. "Try what again? Did – " A brief thought crossed his mind. "How can I be sure this is real?" he ventured.

Jou stopped in his tracks. "Dear God, I am _not_ getting in this conversation again."

"Again?" Then he realized something. "Wait – you – you think I'm Satoshi, don't you?"

"You mean you're not?" asked Jou, lowering his voice to avoid their awkward conversation being overheard. "Then… Yugi?" His assumption not refuted, he continued. "But how –?"

"I don't know. Everything that's happened lately – it's all so puzzling. I thought Satoshi was the real one, but he and Yami both thought it was me… I don't know who's which who anymore." He hugged himself a little tighter. "And my arm hurts."

"Well – hm." Jou thought for a second, then leaned forward and took his smaller friend by the arms. "If _they_ said so, then why not?" He shrugged. _"I_ certainly can't see any differences. As far as I'm concerned – as far as _anybody's_ concerned – you _are_ real. It really doesn't matter how much you deny it – you are what you are and that's that."

Yugi sighed and bowed his head a bit. "I…"

_If you won't believe me, aibou, will you at least trust _him_ on this one?_

"…I'll think about it," he whispered at last.

"Oh, good. Come on, let's go get you home," said Jou, handing Yugi his crutch, and Yugi smiled a little. It could be kind of funny sometimes when people thought he was talking to _them._

Either way, he decided there was no way he was ever touching one of those pods again.

~~~

Fold smiled. A total success. Both of the boys involved were completely intact, and he had gotten what he needed. Or, what he needed _this_ time around, anyway. He cracked his knuckles and began typing furiously. Phase Two of the master plan would begin as soon as this task was completed.

Harder? Definitely. But he was always up to a good challenge.

Which reminded him – he would have to keep half an eye on that ghost-Kaiba. The child was dangerous.

Funny how many of his protégés were turning out that way lately. Well, this time he wasn't about to take chances. This time Satoshi would not interfere.

"It won't be long now, my little friend," he mumbled to his absent adversary. "You won't get away with what you did to me. I'll make sure of it."

*OWARI DESU KA?*

**__**

Author's note: That's it! "The Fellowship of the Virtuapod" is finished! … Oh, that's not the title? … I knew that. I was just testing you, because I'm working on part two and already have part three going on in my wittle cwanium… "The Two Midgets" and "The Return of the Game King" are in progress!

My God, do I ever need a life.

JAPANESE FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T FIND A DICTIONARY (OR ARE TOO LAZY TO):

__

gaijin: I got a question regarding this, and realized I forgot to define it in chapter 1. It means "foreigner."  
_Tasuki:_ The redhead from Fushigi Yuugi, in case you didn't know. I know next to nothing about the show, but I _do_ know he's a dork.  
_ototochan:_ "little brother"

SUBTLETIES AND INSIDE JOKES:

– The note that Seto made is unimportant, really, that's why I didn't include it. All it said was "Seto and Mokuba have been avenged".  
– As Jou and Satoshi entered the arcade, Satoshi flipped the sign so it said "Closed." The clever little dickens…  
– When Seto said "I was starting to wonder if you'd be joining us," it's a joke on the fact that he and Mokuba are dead.  
– For those of you who haven't watched Star Trek ever, "Energize" is what they say to make the transporter transport.

I know you're out there! Please read my story! Review it! Recommend it to someone else! FLOOD KVAEDI WITH EMAILS AND MAKE HER FINISH CHAPTER ELEVEN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!

Okay, I think that's everything. Ready for the finish? I've corrected it now… ANATA _GA_ DAISUKI DESU YO!!!

(o^.^o) The Artist Formerly Known As Ed


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